Product Owner

About Blue Cross

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is one of the most recognized and trusted health care brands in the world with 2.5 million members. We’re committed to reinventing health care to improve health for our members and the community. We hope you'll join us.

Product Owners will be responsible for defining the product vision and manage the product delivery process. Product Owners partner with product management and stakeholders to translate product strategy into detailed product vision. 

As a Product Owner, you should have the ability to plan and manage the development product from start to finish, and ensure that the product(s) meet the customer's needs. The Product Owner partners with an agile delivery team & stakeholders to foster an environment of continuous delivery and improvement. Continuous improvement focusing in on four key areas: Organizational Effectiveness (Engaged Teams), Customer Value (Building the right things), Quality (Working Product) and Team Effectiveness (Deliver Predictably). Ultimately, a top-notch Product Owner will be results driven and have excellent organizational, leadership, and key thought leader for our stakeholders/customers.

A Day in the Life:

• Serves as the "voice of the product" and therefore is the liaison between the business and the Scrum Teams; translating features into user stories within a teams backlog and managing, ranking and prioritizing this backlog so that it is reflective of stakeholder requirements and priorities.

• Final signoff and acceptance responsibility for user stories/features and backlog items. 

• Collaborate with team(s) and Stakeholder(s) to discover and deliver the best solution to the market problem(s) presented by the Product Manager (business).

• Works with the business to understand coordinate ranking and prioritize business needs and plan solutions to ensure that each release provides business value to end users sales and marketing.

• Manage the solution concept development process to ensure the product team understand the direction and vision.

• Create and maintain backlog ownership of work through the product life cycle.

• Utilize best practices to create user stories/backlog items and their acceptance criteria.

• Help provide input into business cases and translate into product backlog stories/items.

• Serve as the Product Management (business) proxy and decision point to represent the stakeholders.

• Reviews and accepts/rejects results both during a Sprint and in the Sprint review.

• Attends sprint ceremonies and is available to team during the sprint for clarifications and acceptance of user stories.

• Capture and prioritize issues or incidents for the team backlog.

• Presents work to team from Team Backlog during Sprint Planning for acceptance by the Team in a Sprint, negotiates Sprint goals with the Team.

• Encourages innovation and experimentation on teams to drive team engagement. 

• Generally, Product Owner will have accountability of larger cross functional product(s). Number of products, product size, revenue impacts and/or complexity are all considerations in performance. 

• Coordinating and running events and workshops

• Gathering feedback and presenting insights

• Reporting on program performance to executive team and directors

• Identifying opportunities for continual improvement

• Developing industry partnerships

• Ensuring relevant standards, process and regulations are upheld

• Developing and implementing strategy for the program team, including developing a robust risk mitigation plan

• Liaising with the marketing and communications team to increase awareness of programs

• Ensure projects and programs are aligned with the strategic plan of the organization

• Coordinate the projects and their interdependencies between the various projects and programs in the program

Nice to Have:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, business, technical degree or a relevant field

• 3+ years’ experience in Project / Program Management preferably in Healthcare

• Experience as an Agile/JIRA product owner

• Project Management / Program Management experience in a highly matrixed environment

• Experience working in the managed care/healthcare insurance industry

• One of the following certifications: Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO), SAFe PM/PO or LeSS, Project Management Professional (PMP)

• Experience utilizing Project Management software / tools

Required Skills & Experiences: 

• 3+ years of Product Ownership and/or Product Managment experience. All relevant experience including work, education, transferable skills, and military experience will be considered.

• Experience with writing user stories and experience implementing Agile methodologies.

• Experience developing short term and long-term roadmaps.

• Work with stakeholder(s) to establish Product Outcomes goals and track progress.

• Able to lead user story mapping, journey mapping and stakeholder canvas exercises.

• Demonstrated presentation skills with leadership and key stakeholders.

• Experience conducting current state vs future state mapping and delivering upon identified product gaps.

• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.

• Experience interacting confidently with key stakeholders, as a subject matter expert and comfortable with influencing decision-making.

• Excellent written, oral, presentation and interpersonal communication skills with the proven ability to negotiate expectations between multiple parties.

• Experience in program management and process improvement with high level of execution focus preferred.

Role Designation:

Hybrid Remote

Role designation definition: Teleworking is working full time remote. Hybrid is a combination of working onsite and remotely. Onsite is full-time onsite.

Compensation and Benefits:

$85,700.00 - $115,700.00 - $145,700.00 Annual

Pay is based on several factors which vary based on position, including skills, ability, and knowledge the selected individual is bringing to the specific job.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package which may include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance

• Life insurance

• 401k

• Paid Time Off (PTO)

• Volunteer Paid Time Off (VPTO)

• And more

To discover more about what we have to offer, please review our benefits page.

Make a difference

Blue Cross is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer that values diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, and will not be discriminated against based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Reasonable Accommodation for Job Seekers with a Disability: If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to [email protected].

All roles require a high school diploma (or equivalency) and legal authorization to work in the U.S.

Blue Cross® and Blue Shield® of Minnesota and Blue Plus® are nonprofit independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.